Lane, Bob & Betty (Fall 2009)

Betty and I greet you in the Blessed Name of Jesus. Wow, we had another fascinating trip this summer! Our journey began in Alzey, Germany, where the Teen Missions van is stored during the winter months. We traveled to Thun, Switzerland to visit the TMI team who were painting a century old missions house. The day we were to leave, we received an email from the office saying that we needed to call home. Our daughter had a problem that needed to be taken care of that day. If we had left Switzerland before receiving her email, it would have been four more days before the TMI office would have been able to contact us in Greece. God’s timing is always on time; Praise the Lord!

Betty and I traveled through the northern part of Italy, then through Slovenia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Yugoslavia, Serbia, Macedonia, Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. We made contact with several different Christian ministries and pastors as we gathered information about future teams, Boot Camps and Bible schools.

In Greece, we had a very nice meeting with the church elders and committee over the prospect of setting up a Bible, Missionary, & Work Training Center (BMW) and Boot Camp there. Betty and I enjoyed the Greek food and culture.

In Serbia, Child Evangelism Fellowship has purchased an old camp that needs to be restored. Hopefully, Teen Missions can send a team. Betty and I stopped for the night in Hrvalskee at a motel. After we got settled in, God brought a bus load of teenagers from France to whom we could wittness. We try to carry many types of language tracts, so we were able to give them each one. We also gave tracts out at the service stations, motels and restaurants when we stopped to eat – everywhere we go, we give them to as many people as we can.

In Bulgaria, we saw God work in an amazing way. Pastor Assen Christov lives in Raylog, Bulgaria. He is one of the Roma nationals whom we Americans often call gypsies. He has a large church that many of the Roma people attend. What a delight it was to meet him! Betty and I brought food and clothing with us, so that we could distribute it to those with a need, and it was greatly appreciated. We also left the pastor some funds to help him finish the translating of the New Testament into their language. After returning to the office, we received an email from him. I’d like for you to read part of it:

“Estir, our eight year old daughter, was the happiest of all – no one would ever think that she had been praying for her favorite bacon – American style, and God replied to her prayers. There is no other way – from the point of a person for the Lord – two traveling US missionaries being led to a country where only a few people speak their language by a boy with a mental disability, carrying with them 150 pieces of bacon…and all this happens at the right time in the right place in the right way!” Pastor Christov.

We had stopped to ask directions, and this young boy offered to show us where the pastor lived in the gypsy community. They were a remarkable family. Assen and Villy both grew up in the same orphanage and Assen eventually joined the Communist party. He rose quickly through the ranks and received special training as an electrical engineer. Villy became a school teacher, and the two fell in love and were married. Later they adopted Estir, their daughter, from the same orphanage they had grown up in. God worked in Assen’s life through many trials, some of them medical, so that Assen would turn to Him and accept Him as his Saviour. Soon afterwards, Villy also accepted Christ as her Lord. After the fall of the Communist party, Assen earned his degree in theology in the States and returned to his homeland and started ministering to his own people.

The pastor’s wife asked us if we had a GPS in our van, to help us find them. I said, “Yes, ma’am, we do! It is the Lord Almighty.” Even though we travel into different countries and areas of the world, and often we feel like we’re going in blind, we know God is our GPS, and He never fails to lead us. We give Him all the glory!

Betty and I thank you for your prayers and encouragement. God bless!

In Christ’s love,

Bob and Betty Lane

Proverbs 3:5-6

Prayer Requests:

• Please pray for our health, safety in travel, and for many opportunities to witness.